hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall. the "news nation" is following developing news. within the last two hours, president obama saying the american people deserve better. he delivered his so-called fix for the growing number of americans whose health insurance policies were canceled. >> already people who have plans that predate the affordable care act can keep those plans if they haven't changed. that was already in the law. today we're going to extend that principle both to people whose plans have changed since the law

took effect and to people who bought plans since the law took effect. so state insurance commissioners still have the power to decide what plans can and can't be sold in their states, but the bottom line is insurers can extend current plans that would otherwise be canceled into 2014. >> now, this comes with two conditions. insurers will have to tell people what their current plan doesn't cover, and they would have to tell them they have the option of checking out the health insurance exchanges to buy new plans with federal subsidies or even going on medicaid. the president also again took responsibility for the failed rollout. >> ultimately, i'm the head of this team. we did fumble the ball on it, and what i'm going to do is make sure that we get it fixed. >> now, shortly after the president's announcement, house speaker john boehner issued a statement saying in part, quote, the president has absolutely no credibility on his promise, true

to form it appears this is little more than a political response designed to shift blame rather than solve the problem. meanwhile, the president due to arrive in cleveland, ohio, in the next hour. his chief of staff dennis mcdonough is on capitol hill meeting with house and senate democrats. the visit and the president's announcement comes after a tense meeting between the president and house democrats, which has "the new york times" putting it this way. several lawmakers saying that the president had put democrats in a tough political position. the administration is also doing damage control after the dismal numbers announced yesterday for the enrollment of the insurance exchanges. of the more than 106,000 people that enrolled overall, 26,794 enrolled in the federal exchanges while about 79,000 enrolled through state-run exchanges. joining me now live, nia malika-henderson with "the

washington post." and wendall potter. first, wendall, how does this plan work here? will the insurance companies go along with it? what requires them to do so? >> i think many of them will. the insurance industry issued a statement i saw a little while ago that they don't like this. they're afraid it could destabilize the new insurance marketplace. there is that risk. i think that we'll see that insurance companies will start complying. insurance commissioners will have a big role in this to determine what will actually be able to be offered again next year. but i think we'll start seeing once the website is fixed that insurance companies will be advertising for people, even those who have gotten these letters. i can see an advertisement. if you've gotten the letter cancelling your policy, check out what is available to you on the exchanges. i think it may be a good thing. >> but some of the criticism -- and to your point, you've pointed it out, we're hearing it from both sides, that this fix, and even fixes proposed by mary

landrieu as well as upton could destabilize the program, that these fixes ultimately in a couple of months or so or maybe down the line will come back to haunt the president and this health care plan. >> it really could, if, however -- i think what we will see is there will be a lot of advertisements, a lot of advertising by insurance companies once the website is fixed. i think it will be largely toward the end of this month. to get young and healthy people to sign up. we haven't seen it yet. it will happen. i don't think we'll see the destabilization. when people realize they can get policies that are better than what they've had before and probably pay less for it, i think we'll see people will shift to those new policies. >> and nia malika, let me bring you in. ezra klein says obama care is much more in trouble than it was a week ago. he goes on to say, like others, he, too, argues that landrieu and upton's bills undermine the

law itself. put simply, the landrieu bill solves one of obama care's political problems at the cost of worsening its most serious policy problem. you have some democrats who appear to be ready to abandon ship or who are not standing strong with the president here and kind of forcing the hand to put up a fix. again that, could eventually be a problem. >> that's right because you've had the insurance companies, of course, say that this could mean that that pool of -- they need something like 2.5 million young people to sign up for this for this to actually work. they need 7 million total. i think one of the problems is what we've seen so far is what we have heard from the obama administration, from hhs about all the projections of this. they just haven't come to pass. they thought it was going to be 500,000 people who would have signed up by now. they thought the website would be fixed by november 30th. it doesn't look like either of those things are going to happen completely. so i think the president has a credibility problem, but i also

think that democrats were sort of sick of the speeches because you can't really sort of assuage some of the screaming and hollering people are doing because they're losing their plans if you are just talking about it. i think there's tremendous political pressure put on the president to actually do something. bill clinton didn't help when he endorsed a fix that the president finally announced today. there's so many unknowns about what this is actually going to do. remember, health care is one-sixth of the economy. i think there are a lot of shoes probably that are left to drop that'll be the result of what the president made the announcement about today. >> but it seems the knock-out punch is getting this website up and running properly. you have to wonder, nia malika, that if the website were running effectively and efficiently, would this issue of those people whose policies were being canceled, would this be front-page headline news, the president having to come out and make this statement, one, given the number of people, yes, and

it's millions, but percentagewise isn't a significant number. i don't want to diminish it at all. the whole point is to get as many people covered with insurance as possible. however, maybe we would be delving into the story lines and finding out perhaps that these people had quote/unquote bad coverage and now they're getting sufficient coverage so that when they go into the doctor's office, they're not being told, hey, this isn't covered or that and good luck. >> that's right. there hasn't been a counternarrative that has been good about health care. i mean, everything that's come out of this program so far has just been bad news. people can't sign up. sometimes even when they do sign up, some of the programs -- i know some of the folks in my family, maybe it's too expensive for them. i think the president very much wanting this website to work so perhaps you will start to get some people who say, look, i got this insurance plan for $50. now i can go to the doctor. i'm not going to get kicked off. i can do all sorts of things in terms of preventive care.

>> or subsidies. there are other things available. >> exactly. >> to the point of the expense window, which we've discussed so much, a lot of that will be flushed out once people can get to the website, can properly put in the paperwork, and find out what assistance is available to them. >> it will change in about two weeks, or at least in early december we'll see this narrative change. the website will be much more functional. i think we will be seeing these stories changing. the media coverage will change too. the president unfortunately has been failed by people within hhs and within his own party, unfortunately. but i think we'll start seeing things for the better. >> wendall, nia malika, thank you so much. right now we're waiting chris murphy to talk with us shortly. we hope to have more details from him. the connecticut senator chris murphy in that meeting right now. he's set to join us very soon to give us more intel on what's going on behind those closed

doors perhaps. and moving on, embattled toronto mayor rob ford held yet another news conference in just the past couple of hours. this time he apologized for some crude remarks he made and also revealed for the very first time he's getting help from health care professionals, but he refused yet again to step down over his admitted use of crack and drinking. >> i fully realize in the past i have drank alcohol in excess. i wish you to know i'm receiving support from a team of health care professionals. i am taking accountability and receiving advice from people with expertise. i do not wish to comment on the particulars of this support. i wish you to understand i am accepting responsibility for the

challenges i face. i would ask you, please, please, respect my family's privacy. >> joining me now live by phone, kevin donovan, an investigative reporter for "the toronto star" newspaper. kevin, thanks for your time here. do we know anymore details regarding the mayor's treatment here? you know, i think a lot of people obviously like to make fun of him. he's quite a character. he's not helping himself in his comments and behavior. but in the end, if he's addicted to drugs or alcohol, this is a disease. and if he's getting treatment, don't the people of toronto deserve to know? >> well, i think they do. and it's been something that has been suggested to him for several years as "the toronto star" has written about it. it's only now he's confirming he has this problem. what i expect is happening is he has had a couple of meetings one on one with a counselor, which

many people in toronto think is nonsufficient. what normally happens when we've seen public officials have these issues, which happens from time to time, is they go away for some sort of treatment. that's something he is resisting. no amount of calls for him to resign or step down for a time are going to have any success. this man is not going to leave his job. >> kevin, it's interesting. in the beginning of his remarks, he talks about the toll it's taken on his life and how difficult it's been. in fact, let me play a little bit of what he said at the beginning of this apology today. >> for the past six months, i have been under tremendous, tremendous stress. the stress is largely my own making. i have apologized, and i have tried to move forward. this has proven to be almost

impossible. the revelations yesterday of cocaine, escorts, prostitution has pushed me over the line. and i used unforgivable language. again, i apologize. these allegations are 100% lies. when you attack my integrity as a father and as a husband, i see red. >> kevin, honestly, as expected, he's all over the place. he's referring to this allegation that he made a sexual advance, a vulgar sexual advance at a woman. he denies it. when a reporter asked him about it, he went on to say basically that he gets plenty at home and he's apologizing for that, but at some point, i'm wondering about your impression. it seemed as if he appeared to be throwing in the towel saying that the toll it had taken on him and he seemed for once to be broken by this.

>> he does, but it's unclear if that is just part of their calculation on what the media and the public want to hear. i mean, as a resident of toronto, this is probably the second time i've seen his wife anywhere near him at any event at all. the first time was probably three years ago when he was elected mayor. this is a person that you don't see with him at all. what we also, you know, have heard from him up until very recently is he's very bombastic attacks on the media. it's all lies. he called us pathological liars. he called us maggots at one point when we broke the story about the original crack-cocaine video. now his message is changing. it's a moving target. he changes things constantly. in our news room here, we're just getting quite used to these

daily confessions of his. but he feels he can just confess and move on. he doesn't realize that he needs to deal with the underlying problem he has, which seems to be addiction and perhaps anger management issues. >> all right. kevin, thank you so much for your time. we greatly appreciate you joining us today. thank you. and still ahead, after 11 murders and 16 years on the run, the sentence is in for legendary mobster whitey bulger. we'll talk to the author of the best-selling book "whitey bu bulger: telling the story of the gangster's life." plus, nearly a week after the disaster, the u.s. says george washington finally arrives off the coast of the philippin philippines, bringing with it much-needed supplies and the ability to provide clean water. we'll get an update on the relief efforts in a live report. and you can join our conversation on twitter. you can find me @tamronhall.

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want to take you to capitol hill. we're listening in mary landrieu after a meeting with the white house chief of staff. let's listen in. >> -- individual health insurance plans that may not be comprehensive, may not be exactly what they need, but it's what they have. i believe they should be able to keep it. the president's step in action this morning was welcomed. it is a first step towards making that possible. his guidance that he has given out, i hope, will be received with goodwill by our 50 states, insurance commissioners, et cetera. i'm going to continue to work with the leadership.

i'm open to working with democrats and republicans if there's a legislative fix that's also necessary. it's very important to understand, all of you know that this is important step for our country. if this were easy to do, it would have been done 100 years ago. our nation, the greatest on the planet, has been struggling for decades as to come up with a way that middle-class families and average, hard-working americans and the entrepreneurs that are in our country that we're so proud of, we have been struggling and struggling with a way to provide for them affordable health insurance that they can depend on when they're sick, not just when they're healthy. insurance they can afford, insurance that they can plan on having. the affordable care act does that. do we have some things to fix?

absolutely. is this one of them? yes. so the president's guidance is a great step forward. i have a bill, there are other bills that have been filed. we're going to be working across the aisle. not to repeal the affordable care act, not to defund the affordable care act, not to undermine the affordable care act, not to gut the affordable care act, but to fix it. anybody that wants to work with me or anybody else to fix it, i'll be willing. now, let me say that these cancellation notices that went out -- they went out to louisiana, california, north carolina, arkansas, lots of places -- under the president's guidance, these letters now will have to explain to people that receive them, you know, what their policy did and what is available for them now on the exchange. and many people will find better

options on the exchange, assuming we can get those exchanges up and running, assuming we can get the websites working. many people will find a better option. but we told people that if they had these plans, they could keep it. now, i want to end with this because -- and i'll answer your questions. i do not want to lose sight of the promise of the affordable care act, and i'm going to give to the press this letter that i received from my office. i'm not going to read the whole part of it. but this child, emily, who's now 22 years old, and her mother susan, wrote me this letter to say, senator landrieu, i know you're struggling with the aca. i want to tell you this is worth fighting for. she goes on to describe her drawer, who lost her hearing as a young child, struggled through, got great grades, ended up going to one of the toughest universities in the country as she was partially, you know, deaf, partially deaf.

she then gets hit by a car. this is too much to believe, but it's true. cooper union manhattan gets hit by a car. had she not been at the age of 22 on the affordable care act, she would have virtually no insurance today. so don't lose sight of the promise of this bill, even though we have to get it fixed. dana and then you. dana? >> we are listening in to senator mary landrieu just coming out of this meeting with the president's chief of staff. you hear her there saying she's not trying to undermine, trying to repeal the affordable care act. she wants to improve and fix some of its problems. let me bring in connecticut senator chris murphy. senator, thank you so very much for your time. you were also in this meeting with dennis mcdonough. what is your impression now that the president has proposed an idea, a fix for some of the issues regarding people who have their policies canceled? is that enough at this point? >> well, i think it is enough, but i think it's important to back up here. what we're talking about is 4%

of the american public. i'm not diminishing the issue, but we're talking about 4% of the american public who get their insurance from the individual market. 80% of americans get their insurance from employers. the remainder of people are largely uninsured. those are the folks who are going to get insured through these exchanges. republicans talk about their desire to fix this problem and other issues they may have with the affordable care act. they've been clear all along. this is really just an effort to undermine it and get it repealed. but the president proposed today a pretty simple solution that fixes the problem. he said today he's going to issue regulatory guidance so that all of these insurance plans that because they changed their plan to the detriment of the consumer had to be canceled now can continue to offer those plans to individuals. i appreciate what senator landrieu has done with her legislation, but i frankly think that what the president did today fixes this problem and now we should get back to the business of getting the website up and running and get people enrolled in these exchanges. >> and to your fair point, it

certainly has had more republican opposition from beginning to end, top to bottom. we know that. but we're seeing increasing numbers of democrats now concerned that they may have the weight of the problems around their shoulders come midterm elections. senator landrieu not saying that she is discontinuing her pursuit of legislation if necessary here, though. >> well, listen, again, i think what the president proposed here essentially fixes the problem. i wish we were spending as much time talking about the enormous successes with this law's implementation. in connecticut, we are far above our initial goals for enrollment in the first month. we have people that are celebrating the fact that for the first time ever they are able to afford insurance, sick people that had been denied insurance can now get treatment for their diseases and illnesses. that's the real story here. i think the president has taken care of this issue, and i trust if other ones come up the president will be just as quick

to try to do something about it. >> to your point, connecticut is the only state in the country in which more people have applied for private coverage than medicaid through the health insurance exchange. we learned that on tuesday. with that said, connecticut, you and i both know, an exception to the rule right now. i think you make a fair point regarding the number of people who are impacted by the cancellations. i think it is an added pressure. if the website were up and running effectively, this would certainly be an issue, the cancellatio cancellations, but not the headline. when you're looking at a one-two punch, it is easy for people and perhaps rightfully so to lose confidence in what's happening regarding aca. >> no, you guys decide the headlines, not us. i just think that ultimately we should be telling -- >> well, i don't think that's true, with all due respect. i didn't ask senator landrieu to propose legislation. i didn't ask your colleagues for democrats to go on radio and anonymously be quoted in newspaper articles and everywhere else, expressing

their concern. i don't think that's a fair assessment of me personally. i'm simply asking you, you're absolutely right, context is everything, but i, the media, did not create these problems. >> no, i just don't think there has been enough context with respect to all the people who are enjoying a transformation in terms of their health care. >> what about all the people who have not been able to because the website is not working? what about those people? >> listen, i'm in the denying that's an issue here. it's unacceptable the website isn't up and running. again, context is important. in massachusetts when they went through their health care implementation, only 0.3% of people signed up in the first month. >> and we're looking at 1.3. an improvement over massachusetts. absolutely right. >> i think people take their time to sign up. it is unacceptable that the website isn't working. we made that clear in our lunch today with dennis mcdonough. but the perspective is important on that issue as well because most people do wait until they've take an look at all of their options, until they get closer to the deadline before they sign up. it's an issue, but it's being solved.

>> so let me ask you, if you can give me insight in how the meeting went, would you say the house democrats and senate democrats who were there are all in line and as optimistic as you are? was there pushback? >> the democratic party is a big tent. i think he heard people that were supportive of states in which it's gone well like connecticut, and he heard a lot of pushback today. there's no excuse for the state of the website, but he did say -- dennis mcdonough said it is on schedule to be essentially up and running and be fixed by the end of the month. that's frankly two months too late, but it will be up and running in time for most people to be able to sign up for a policy, make their payments before the deadline. >> all right, senator murphy. thank you so much for making it to the cameras. i know you're very busy. thank you. >> all right. great. >> still ahead, the florida woman sentenced to 20 years for firing a warning shot at her husband she says was abusive will stay in jail for now. this despite marissa alexander

being granted a new trial and new reports that her husband sent text messages when he was supposedly afraid of her. we're going to dig more into what's going on and why she has not been released on bail. day w, was a truly amazing day. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. from contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers. you can find it all on angie's list. join today.

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to help you retire your way... with confidence. that's what ameriprise financial does. that's what they can do with you. ameriprise financial. more within reach. welcome back. two consecutive life terms plus five years. that's the sentence handed down today to legendary boston mob boss james "whitey" bulger. the prosecutors had, in fact, requested and imposing the sentence. the federal judge told bulger his crimes were, quote, heinous, almost unfathomable, and all about money. the judge said, quote, the testimony of human suffering that you and your associates inflicted on others was at times agonizing to hear and painful to watch. the now 84-year-old bulger was convicted in august for 11 killings plus a string of other crimes, including extortion, money laundering, and drug dealing. joining me now, "boston globe"

columnist kevin cullen. he's co-author of this book. thanks for your time today, kevin. >> you're welcome, tamron. >> so is this the conclusion? is this the end, or might we hear some, you know, jailhouse interview with whitey bulger? will he try to get his story out and cleaned up before he leaves this earth? >> i doubt this is the last we'll hear of him, but i think there was a feeling of closure here. i talked to a number of the victims' families after because we've all been in this for many, many years and we all know each other at a certain level. i thought one of the things -- all the victims' families i talked to were very moved by judge casper's words. there's also an irony in there that besides being a convicted drug dealer, we know whitey bulger is an out and out racist

and misogynist. there seemed to be something appropriate that he had to sit there and take his medicine from an african-american woman. >> it's interesting. you wrote that he's a man not worthy of our hate, but you and i both know hollywood has glamorized whitey bulger, his story. we've seen the glamourization of his life. let's play a clip. >> show me around. flip it. >> kevin, you and i both know movies last forever. think about al capone, other mobsters. how do you think whitey bulger will be remembered here? >> well, i think he'll be remembered unlike capone, unlike machine gun kelly, both of who shared -- had prison cells on l

alcatraz. i think whitey will be remembered for the corruption. whitey bulger was a creation of the fbi. he was protected by the fbi and to a larger extent by the justice department. i think the difference about -- compared with bulger and all the other criminals we have in the pantheon of infamous criminals, i think it says as much about the corruption of our government as it says about the evil finality of one -- hey, i expect whitey to be a criminal. he is a criminal. i don't expect my government to protect murderers. >> do you think that came out enough, though, in the trial? because it is so easy to kind of be distracted by the story of whitey bulger. i, myself, the other night got pulled into some documentary on his life and how he turned into this person as opposed to the federal government's role in creating whitey bulger and his power. >> tamron, it did not come out to the extent i was certainly hoping it would. there was nothing really new in the evidence that came out other than whitey himself admitting

that he was a drug dealer. that was something he would never admit. that was something his family insisted he would never do because he created this myth of him being a good bad guy, a gangster with scruples. the reality is whitey bulger could not have survived all those years and murdered as many people as he did and become literally a millionaire without the active assistance of the fbi and the justice department. we still don't know to what extent agents were involved in that. we know one agent is doing life in prison. we know another agent copped a deal. we don't know the extent of his corruption with other agents. frankly, i don't think we ever will. the justice department's narrative has always been to minimize this. that will continue. >> kevin cullen, thank you. really appreciate it. >> thanks, tamron. well, developing now, the president landed in cleveland just a few minutes ago.

he's traveling to a steel plant where he's expected to deliver a speech promoting his economic policies. the president will then travel to philadelphia for fundraising event. and the woman picked to be the next chair of the federal reserve faced a senate confirmation hearing today. janet yellen said the u.s. economy is improving and is significantly stronger than when the recession started. but despite the gain, she said the economy is not ready to stand on its own. >> i believe that supporting the recovery today is the surest path to returning to a more normal approach to monetary policy. i strongly believe that monetary policy is most effective when the public understands what the fed is trying to do and how it plans to do it. >> and let's just take a quick look at the dow right now. it's up 52 points. the s&p slightly up as well as the nasdaq. joining me now, nbc news senior political editor mark murray. we'd love to talk about the

economy. obviously, janet yellen, when she's confirmed, her words will move the marks. the president wants to talk about the economy as well today in cleveland. we know the realities here. >> right. i mean, today's actually been all about the health care and the health care law. that's really been the case over the past month now since the government shutdown ended, tamron. going back to janet yellen's confirmation hearing, the politics of this was that she was perceived really well. of course, in today's senate, you need 60 or more votes. it seems like she has that. the republicans have focused all their fire on the president's health care law, not so much on janet yellen. she seems she's going to be a sure bet for confirmation. >> it looks that way. the president now leaving air force one. he is in cleveland, ohio, as i mentioned at a steel plant there. what is the instant quick react to the president's remarks today regarding this fix and trying to move forward here? >> tamron, i think you take the totality of the president's remarks today in two different

ways. on the one hand, you look at they was offering hill democrats a pound of flesh for all the problems that have been associated with the health care rollout. he knows that this has put them in a very difficult spot and this has not been pretty for the democratic party as it goes to politics. so the president was apologizing, saying it was on me and we're going to fix this. he admitted he fumbled the ball, all in the first person, not saying that hill democrats also played a role in this. the other big takeaway, he's just trying to be able to buy time, get that website fixed and show that this law can work. the states where the website is working in california, in kentucky, does show the law can work. >> you know, it's interesting. in the first read today, you talk about united front. with the government shut down, republicans splintered off into different factions. that made the party weaker when they started to feel the fallout with the shutdown. you're comparing it to democrats now, many of them openly voicing their anger, their concerns and

how they will be impacted by these issues facing the health care rollout here. and i think that's an interesting timing. it was just a couple weeks ago it was failure for republicans, victory for democrats because the democrats stayed together. can they continue this, or are we already seeing them fall off from one another here? >> well, one thing worth noting in politics, a month, things can certainly change. unity matters so much. the party that is divide often almost always loses these fights. democrats yesterday were almost engaged in a bit of a freak show where they were beginning to have a little bit of a freak out as it came to this health care law. i think some of the reaction we've seen from the president's remarks, from chief of staff dennis mcdonough after his remarks to democratic senators, i think that has seemed to calm the tide a little bit. it still is very early, but as i mentioned, the white house is just trying to buy time to get that website fixed and show all the benefits that the law can provide. >> that is the big one there.

that really is. we'll see what happens. thank you very much, mark. greatly appreciate it. >> thank you. now to the latest from the philippines where relief is beginning to get to some of the hardest hit areas. the uss george washington has arrived to help with the relief effort. the deck of this carrier will become a platform for helicopter operations, and the ship can purify 100,000 gallons of water a day. nbc news correspondent dr. nancy snyderman flew to a remote town by helicopter and found american doctors doing their best under extremely limited conditions. doctors are performing surgeries under flashlight, including amputations, c-sections, also antibiotics and dressings are running out at this point. >> reporter: the work is nonstop. doctors haven't slept in four days. >> to fix this, the surgeons are going to have to clean it up. >> reporter: upstairs, dr. sarah may from seattle treats an 8-year-old girl whose leg was cut by flying debris. >> unfortunately, we've been doing procedures like this every

day. we let them wake up. we dress the wound. we give them the one day of antibiotics we have. all we can do is have them come back. >> just have them come back? >> have them come back the next day. >> let's go to what ian williams has reported from the ground for us. >> reporter: tamron, the uss george washington and seven support ships has now arrived off the coast of the devastated province of leyte. they're calling this operation to help each other or sharing. the first thing that giant aircraft carrier will want to share is water. it has the capacity to purify 400,000 gallons of water every day. now, the ships are carrying 21 helicopters. those helicopters will be going on search and rescue missions throughout that devastated region. they'll also be delivering much-needed supplies to areas, many of which haven't seen any

drinking water in the almost one week since disaster struck. at the same time, there are now 300 u.s. marines on the ground, a number that will soon be boosted to more than 1,000. now, they've also been taking in aid. crucially, the airport at tacloban has had its runway extended to take slightly bigger aircraft. it's now a 24-hour operation. this aid effort is slowly getting momentum. the filipino government has now undone some of the roadblocks, some of the problems that were slowing down the flow of aid into that area. and that effort is now gaining some traction. so the real hope is that over the coming days, we will see a step up in the aid effort and that'll be hugely welcomed by the people in those devastated areas, tamron. >> all right, ian. thank you. still ahead, the florida woman sentenced to 20 years for firing a warning shot at a husband she says was abusive, well, she will have to wait to find out if she'll be free on

bail despite being granted a new trial. we'll have the very latest on where this case stands and why she's not been released pending this trial. plus, it's our get check. new guidelines urging doctors to get tougher on overweight patients, saying obesity should be treated as aggressively as other health issues. i'm going to tell you how you can weigh in on that one. i have a 401k retirement plan. i started part-time, now i'm a manager. my employer matches my charitable giving. really. i get bonuses even working part-time. where i work, over 400 people are promoted every day. healthcare starting under $40 a month. i got education benefits. i work at walmart. i'm a pharmacist. sales associate. i manage produce. i work in logistics. there's more to walmart than you think. vo: opportunity. that's the real walmart. medicare open enrollment. of year again.

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court. alexander's attorneys argued in yesterday's hearing she poses no threat to her ex-husband. as evidence, they provided text messages he sent her asking if she would have sex with him. alexander has now spent more than 1,000 days in jail. joining me now, "florida times union" reporter. thank you for your time. we could see a decision mid-january, january 15th specifically. again, this would be a mother away from her children more days here. i guess it's intriguing. these text messages presented by her attorney. why didn't that impact the decision from the judge? >> well, the judge hasn't made a ruling. he said he's going to try to rule before january 15th, but he seemed pessimistic he would, saying he had 50 other cases to deal with. i thought the text messages were very interesting. the argument was that it meant he isn't afraid of marissa

alexander. since the only violence alleged is against her estranged husband, then if he's not afraid of her, the public has no reason to be afraid of her. >> we're looking at days here, as i said, but is this considered a legal setback? would this have any impact on the upcoming trial? >> i don't think so. i spoke to her lawyer after the hearing. he said he was okay with marissa not getting out today. he wants the judge to think about it, but they'd like the judge to rule before the holiday season. obviously f the judge chooses to keep her in jail, that means she's stuck there until the first week of april at least. >> what are legal analysts saying are her chances here given she has a new trial? the amount of national media attention this case has been given in wake of the trayvon martin case and the whole focus on stand your ground. what are the legal experts in florida saying are her chances of ultimately being free? >> the consensus is she's probably not going to get out because she violated the bond

conditions one time before after she was arrested for firing the shot at her husband. she got out on bail and went over to his house and ended up being arrested for hitting him. the argument the prosecutors made yesterday is, well, she violated the terms once, we can't trust her not to do it again. and the judge seemed receptive to that argument. >> what is the heart of her upcoming defense in this new trial that you're hearing from her attorneys? is it that no one was injured when she fired the shot? is it that he had been accused of being abusive? what's at the heart of them trying to get her off here? >> i think the abuse is going to be the main point. you know, the one thing that her attorney has already brought up several times is she was abused while she was pregnant. she was in the hospital. it seems as though they're really going to try to bring in the history of abuse into this trial. i think it may turn out to be as much they're going to try to flip it around and put him on trial. >> all right, larry. thank you very much for the

update on what happened. we'll see what happens in the coming weeks. thank you. >> thank you. a new scandal for the secret service tops our look at stories around the news nation today. two agents have been removed from their posts after an embarrassing incident with a woman at a hotel just one block from the white house. one of the agents of off-duty when he tried to retrieve a bullet he left in the woman's room. during the follow-up investigation, officials found that the agent and another supervisor had sent sexually suggestive e-mails to a female subordinate. it also comes just a year after the secret service was rocked by that prostitution scandal. a massive sink hole has led to the evacuation of half a dozen homes in a neighborhood near tampa, florida. the huge sink hole, you see it there, opened up this morning, swallowing portions of at least two homes. the hole is now 70 feet wide and 53 feet deep, and it's getting bigger. [ male announcer ] at humana, understanding what makes you different

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there's a lot going on today. here are some things we thought you should know. the world taekwondo federation honored vladimir putin an honorary black belt. he received the grand master status along with a certificate and a uniform yesterday in south korea. the symbolic title puts putin in an elite class, even surpassing the ranks of chuck norris. i'd pay to see them go one on one. putin does not practice taekwondo but has earned a black belt in judo. and the first lady spoke to vets at florida's walt disney world earlier today. mrs. obama gave the keynote address, encouraging private companies to hire former soldiers. and those are the things we

thought you should know. that's fantastic. time now for the gut check. when a patient who may be overweight visits the doctor, it's typically up to the doctor to decide if he wants to suggest weight loss. however, new guidelines released by leading health groups encourage doctors to help them come up with a diet plan and lose weight. the groups say they're hoping this will push doctors to get more aggressive in the fight against obesity by getting them to treat it as seriously as other health issues. so what does your gut tell you? do you think doctors should treat overweight patients more aggressively? go to newsnation.msnbc.com. that's a tough one. and we have an update on yesterday's gut check. ohio governor john kasich has decided to delay today's scheduled execution of a condemned child killer to consider his last-minute request to donate organs to his ailing mother and sister. prison officials had rejected the request ronald phillips made monday. but the governor wants to allow

time to study whether phillips could save lives by donating his heart and kidney. we asked you yesterday should he be allowed to donate his organs before put to death? 91% of you said yes. surprised. 9% of you said no. that does it for this edition of "news nation." i'll see you tomorrow. "the cycle" is up next. or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no one's around, it does make a sound? ohhh...ohhh...oh boy! i'm falling. everybody look out! ahhhhh...ugh. little help here. geico. fifteen minutes could save you...well, you know. anybody?

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his day of coaching begins with knee pain, when... [ man ] hey, brad, want to trade the all-day relief of two aleve for six tylenol? what's the catch? there's no catch. you want me to give up my two aleve for six tylenol? no. for my knee pain, nothing beats my aleve. we're awaiting president obama live in cleveland, ohio, and, oh, boy, does he have a major task ahead of him. obama care's approval numbers are lower than ever, right along with his own, not to mention wednesday's worse than expected enrollment numbers. his speech this hour is supposed to focus on jobs and the economy. given what he said this morning, it's a good bet his so-called obama care fix will also make it

in. >> i completely get how upsetting this can be for a lot of americans, particularly after assurances they heard from me that if they had a plan they liked they could keep it. to those americans, i hear you loud and clear. i said that i would do everything we can to fix this problem. today i'm offering an idea that will help do it. the bottom line is insurers can extend current plans that would otherwise be canceled into 2014 and americans whose plans had been canceled can change to re-enroll in the same kind of plan. >> we start with nbc's peter alexander, who is outside the white house. peter, how is this thing going to work? >> that's a good question. a lot of people are asking that question today. in the last 15 minutes or so, we're hearing for the first time from state insurance commissioners. they put out a statement that said simply, it is unclear how as a practical matter the changes proposed today by the president can be put into effect. directly speaking to the question you're